Monna Lisa Shoes
Monna Lisa Shoes, 2019, olio e pelle su legno sagomato su modello Rinascimentale, cm 40×40x25
Looking for Monna Lisa - One, none and a hundred thousand of Valerio Dehò
"The Mona Lisa walks, travels, in her landscapes of mountains and rivers that make the plains fertile, like those behind her. For this Elisa Zadi has made shoes, she created them for us to cross time that separates us from the historical characters who appear more and more as elements of a film that is renewed over time, without ever interrupting. "
Imagining the shoes of the Monna Lisa
“Monna Lisa Shoes” is part of a series of works proposed by me that comes from the desire to compare with some famous works; an attempt on the continuation of contemporary artistic making in relation to our cultural heritage. I thought of paying homage to Leonardo, on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of his death, taking into consideration one of his most popular works: the Mona Lisa. Personally, the fact that most intrigued me when observing this work was thinking about what could be beyond that image that Leonardo chose to show: what is going on in that landscape? How can the woman's dress continue below that skilfully cropped shot? And what kind of shoes could the Mona Lisa have worn?The idea is to propose a work that is inspired by shoes of the time, shoes that, in my opinion, may have actually been worn by the Mona Lisa and which are called "Pianelle". The work therefore comes to life starting from historical research on shoes and imitating their aesthetics. The shaped wooden support for the creation of "Mona Lisa Shoes" was carefully cut and painted in oil reproducing the landscape behind the portrait of Leonardo's work. The lighter colors are fresh like the seasons to which the work is dedicated.The desire is to intrigue the viewer and provide an imaginative and alternative interpretative key to a work that is so popular, but which still reveals a different interpretative possibility.
